Broken Porcelain Marionette

Chapter 18

Marinette's POV

" No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no..."

I slumped down on to the ground while holding my head in my hands, not realizing that I was mumbling.

" Princess you need to breathe! You don't have to explain to me, just breathe for me, Princess!" Chat said. I tried to calm down my breathing, but it was hard. Everything was spinning, I felt nauseous, weak, and my head was pounding. Soon enough, I fell limp into his arms, everything went black after that.
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Chat Noir's POV

I held her in my arms, in complete shock. Anyone would be if someone who they cared about was badly injured and suddenly engulfed by a bright light.

I examined her head and wiped off the what I assume is blood. It had a strong metallic smell, so it is real blood, but there was no signs of a wound....But I saw the wound on her head...

She passed out and so I decided to carry her to her room to let her rest, as well as not worry her parents for now. They are already worried sick about her and adding more will probably cause them to take matters into their own hands...Most likely without thinking about how Mari will feel...

Just like how father treated me...

" Oh Princess...life must be tough for you now, huh." I sighed

I waited in her room, making sure to keep checking her temperature. I didn't see an akuma come in, so it's most likely not that...Hopefully it's not that....I can't bare the thought of having to fight against Mari...Princess...She means too much to me.

" Please wake up soon, Princess." I said quietly and gently placed a kiss onto her forehead.

I waited there for a while and heard my ring beep, giving me a sign that it is time to go....

I wrote on a post-it note and left it on her desk, explaining to her that I had to leave, but plan to see her later, tonight.

I quickly made my way out of her house, through the trap door, down to the living room, and out the door. I ran as fast as I could home, but didn't make it in time and had to hide in an alleyway.

" What's wrong kid?" Plagg asked. I looked at him and he had a very worried expression on his face.

" Something happened to Mari today. Her head was bleeding. I could see the wound and all of a sudden, she was engulfed by a bright light. After the light disappeared and my eyes adjusted, Mari looked directly at me. She looked so afraid and panicky, as if I saw something I wasn't supposed to see. She fainted and I was able to take a close look at her head where I saw the bloody wound. The blood was still there, but there was no wound. I know I saw a wound and it was definitely blood on her, but I just don't understand what is happening. Mari has some type of healing power? How long has she had it? How many times had she been injured and all of a sudden heals as if nothing happened? Does anyone else know about this? Is it an akuma's power? Did Hawkmoth do some-?"

" Kid calm down. You're beginning to mumble. I can't answer any of that because I have no idea what it could be. Usually akuma's cause some sort of destruction under this Hawkmoth' s control since it feeds off of a negative energy. I don't think it is an akuma's power since something is healing her...If it is some sort of secret ability she has, then she would definitely want to keep it a secret. Maybe she doesn't want to be treated as a freak to the public or become experimented on. Just because there are heroes out there, doesn't mean there aren't bad and corrupted people doing evil things on innocent, but gifted people." Plagg said, interrupting Adrien's thoughts.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down and reviewed everything  Plagg has just said. If it is something secret and she doesn't want anyone to know, I shouldn't force her to tell me. It will be her decision if she wants to tell me her secret.

" Thank you Plagg. You know, recently you have been talking a lot more than usual...I really do appreciate it." I said giving him a small smile. He gave me a small shrug, but I could tell something was off.

" Don't worry about it. Now can you give me cheese, so we can transform? I don't like being in that house, but you need to be there." Plagg said. I handed him his stinky piece of cheese that I now use plastic wrap over, in order not to continuously smell like camembert.

" I know bud. Thank you for your understanding and sticking around even with the whole sad mood." I said. I watched as he quickly at his cheese and gave me a small thumbs up to tell me he is good to go. I nodded and transformed back into Chat Noir.

I made my way home, through my bedroom window and quickly checked the time. Nathalie will knock on my door expecting me to be in my room in about 2-3 more minutes.

Plagg flew off to rest somewhere, but knows to stay hidden while doing so. I sat on the couch and waited the rest of the time and turned on the Tv. There was nothing interesting at the moment and when I was about rechange the channel for like fifth time, I heard a knock at my door.

" Come in." I said, knowing it will be Nathalie.

" Adrien. There is something I wanted to talk to you about." Nathalie said, but her voice sounded less monotone then normal. I turned around to look at her and she had a worried look plastered onto her face. Once again, this was not normal from her usual expressionless face.

" Yes, Nathalie? What is it?" I asked, genuinely curious as of what she is so worried about. She walked towards me and stopped right at the couch.

" Adrien...Your grades have been dropping quite low recently and you know what your Father thinks of that...He wants you to either fix your grades or face the consequences of becoming homeschooled once again, but permanently." She said sadly. My eyes widened. Oh no. I know I haven't been able to pay attention in class because I was constantly worrying about Mari, as well as how I haven't completed all of the homework assignments, because of my late visits to Mari's home, but I cannot go back to being home schooled. Public school gave me some freedom and helped me meet amazing and incredible people. I even call some of them my friends!

" I-I'll fix my grades I promise, but please don't let him put me back in home school, Nathalie." I told her, my eyes were stinging with tears, but I dare not let them fall.  Nathalie gave me a sad smile.

" I'll do what I can, but Adrien? I advise you to take more college courses away from school or we can hire you a tutor for a bit, so you don't fall behind." Nathalie said. I nodded, even though I'm unwilling to go farther away from Mari. Especially during this time.

" Oh and before I forget...Your father wants me to tell you that you have a curfew now. During the week days, the latest you can be out for is at 8 pm. This is only to accommodate group projects and such. The weekend will have no curfew, but don't abuse it or your father will take away that privilege." Nathalie said sternly. I nodded, taking in all the new information.

Today was a week day meaning I had to follow the new curfew. I would still see Mari...but I can't. I must work on raising my grade up and to do this, I need to start now. The sooner I raise my grades, the quicker I can focus on helping Mari.